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Thursday, 3 December 2009

Poll results: favourite fantasy story

There was quite a good response. As I expected, Lord of the Rings took top place with 29% of the votes. Strangely - and I'm to blame for this for a limited knowledge of popular fantasy - it was followed by 'other,' taking 22%. Only one person said what her favourite was and that's Magz - "Unfortunately my favourite (to date) wasn't listed which is 'The Wheel of Time' series by Robert Jordan."

Coming in 3rd was the ever popular Harry Potter series with 18% of the votes, followed closely by Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy* with 14%. Steph had this to say:

That was so hard! I chose "His Dark Materials" in the end but it was like trying to pick a favourite child. Almost impossible & I feel like I've cheated on Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings.

Plus there are also the great fantasy series by David Eddings and Stephen Donaldson. Plus we can't really look over the addictive madness of MerynPeakeummm. Ok I'm sticking with His Dark Materials but it was hard. A top 10 would have been easier. Thanks for reminding me how much I love fantasy books.

I find what Steph said very interesting - "it was like trying to pick a favourite child". Almost everyone is in love with fantasy to some degree. For some it's the escapism of getting lost in a story. For others it's the thrill of adventure. Some people (myself included) like to highlight all the similarities between fantasy and real life. No-one can deny that in His Dark Materials!

Bringing up the rear were Peter Pan (7%), with The Chronicles of Narnia and Artemis Fowl each getting 3%. Shockingly no-one at all voted for Eragon, The Night Watch, Alice in Wonderland or The Conan Chronicles.